


and the day could no longer contain me

by QuenchiestCactusJuice99



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alchemy pisses Katsuki off, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Bakugou Katsuki is a Good Friend, Bakugou Katsuki-centric, Canon-Typical Violence, Dimension jumping lol, Katsuki is mistaken for an Ishvalan, Katsuki is soft even tho he doesnt want to admit it, Mei and Katsuki are bffs, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, fuck ‘equivalent exchange’, kind of?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:06:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23176660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuenchiestCactusJuice99/pseuds/QuenchiestCactusJuice99
Summary: Finding Katsuki is an accident - a day of boring lessons and pent-up curiosity and quick, repetitivebangbangbang’s from deep in the woods - but keeping him is entirely choice. There are many factors in this decision; none of them Katsuki’s opinion, but she thinks if she had to boil it all down to one reason, it would be this: he is only a little older than her, and Mei has never had a friend aside from Xiao Mei.He does not look completely Xingese - his hair is lighter than anyone else’s, and Mei is much paler than his tan, and his eyes are a ferocious, unique red, but they slant like hers and isn’t there that light-haired, red-eyed desert nation to Xing’s west? - but he does not speak Xingese like a second language.He does, however, use a wholly different dialect that seems more honorific-based and he still manages to sound ruder with than anyone Mei has ever met.
Relationships: Bakugou Katsuki & Mei Chang
Comments: 48
Kudos: 186





	and the day could no longer contain me

**Author's Note:**

> What is GOOD readers? You might be thinking: Cactus, you prickly fuck, what the hell is this?
> 
> The answer is a MASTERPIECE. ,,, I swear I’m still working on my other fics. Enjoy!

Katsuki is loud, and quiet, and angry, and calm. He is both a mystery and no mystery at all - he speaks his mind, but not his past, and he doesn’t lie to her, but sometimes he will not answer her questions.

He does not tell her about his parents, or how he learned to light explosions from his hands, or where he got the little scar at the corner of his mouth, or why alkahestry makes him bristle and tense like everything about it screams _danger_ even when they use it for healing.

XxXOoO

Because Mei is trained, she can tell Katsuki also is trained. The thing is that Mei doesn’t recognize what style he uses, and from a young age she’s learned to recognize the distinctive traits of thirty of the Chang’s rival clans.

According to her instructors, he doesn’t display any traits from the remaining nineteen. So she asks who taught him, and what style he uses.

He gets uncomfortable and she can tell because he twitches and his muscles start to coil and tense around his shoulders, pushing them closer to his ears.

“Uh,” He says. “... Aizawa-sensei. I don’t fuckin’ know?”

That’s strange, kind of, but not more so than any other of the strange things about Katsuki, so she lets it go.

“Ooh, _sensei,_ that’s a new one! What’s it mean?”

Katsuki’s shoulders sink a little, tension unwinding, and Mei wonders if he realizes how much emotion his shoulders display.

... she wonders what it says that she can tell what he’s feeling by the set of his shoulders in relation to the rest of him. “It means teacher,” He says.

“Then how come it goes after the name?” She asks, curious. “It sounds kinda odd, as ‘Aizawa-teacher’, yeah?”

“... no?” Katsuki blinks a little, brow furrowing. “It works better at the end. And it doesn’t sound right at the beginning, that’s hella weird.”

Mei forgets how different their dialects are sometimes, even if the vast majority of their words and sentences are formulated the same way.

XxXOoO 

“Getting fuckin’ _old,_ pipsqueak.”

Mei whirls around with a grin, braids whipping behind her. “If I’m old, that makes you _ancient,”_ She says brightly.

Katsuki rolls his eyes and shoves his hands in his pockets. He’s not dressed up, though really, he isn’t ever. Most people dress up way too much for her birthday celebration, and the fact that he hasn’t makes her inordinately pleased.

This year’s festival promises to be over the top and blown completely out of proportion, as usual. 

Compared to the kimonos and sashes and fanciness of everyone else, Katsuki looks severely underdressed in his black tank top and the undecorated traditional pants she gave him over three months ago - he’s taped down the fabric at his ankles so the loose article poofs out above his stupid lace-up, weird-soled shoes.

He looks absolutely ridiculous. Mei laughs at him; he waits for her to finish with exorbitant patience and smacks her upside the head after she’s done.

The nearest clan member looks seconds from a heart attack. She thinks she hears a faraway exclamation of _“Heiress Chang!”_ and promptly ignores it.

They walk for a little while, sniping back and forth good-naturedly with Katsuki garnering more and more askance looks from every clansmen they pass.

“How old are you turning again? Forty?”

“What are you?” She jeers back, “Seventy?”

“You damn brat-“

“Don’t strain your back trying to catch me, Grandpa!”

Their impromptu game of tag meets an unexpected end when they careen past The Fabric Flower and seamstress Chen ambushes Katsuki for another examination of the cloth his tank top is made of.

Of course, this grabs the attention of the owner of Shoe Craft across the way, who takes advantage of Katsuki’s misfortune to steal another look at his shoes.

Mei and Xiao Mei laugh at him from a safe distance until he explodes - not literally, this time - and then the chase is back on, except Katsuki is short a pair of shoes.

At some point, they end up winded and giggling (or swearing) in front of The Fabric Flower again, where Katsuki is returned his shoes and seamstress Chen visibly restrains herself from ambushing him again.

Mei decides that this is a good start to a long night of festivities. Xiao Mei agrees.

(Towards the end of the celebration, Katsuki stops her to hold out a small, square object neatly wrapped in light pink.

She lifts it gently from his palm, eyes wide, and unwraps it to find a smooth box with a little gold hinge and clasp. 

She opens it, and inside is a pendant. It’s a little, jagged silver starburst inside a smooth, perfect circle, sitting on the soft red lining, and suddenly all those times Mei found Katsuki sweaty from hours inside Xan-Li’s forge make sense, because her earlier guess was that he and Xan-Li were hooking up and that’s a gross thought, even if they’re the same age.

“Did you… did you make this for me?” She asks, and tries not to acknowledge the waver in her voice.

Katsuki drags a hand through his hair, ducking his head a little. “Sort of,” He mumbles. “Soot-Face fucking did most of it.”

Mei muffles a watery giggle. Katsuki scowls and makes a halfhearted swipe at her that she ducks.

“Happy birthday, pipsqueak.”)

XxXOoO 

Mei is petty, sometimes. Which means that, much to her clan’s collective perturbance, the fact that some feel the need to express their displeasure at her and Xiao Mei’s friendship with Katsuki leads to them talking long walks with him that take them everywhere in the entire compound.

Katsuki doesn’t protest this. Openly, anyway. He does address it, once. 

(“They don’t like me.”)

She addresses it right back.

(“So? I like you.”

“They have a valid fucking reason, brat.”

“They don’t.”

“You’re an heiress, you little hellion. They have every right to be wary of random people making friends with their heiress.”

She scoffs. “Only when you _were_ random. You’re not from any of the other clans, and you’re nice.”)

He, of course, puts in a token protest-

(“Define _nice.”_

“Don’t have to, anyone with eyes should be able to tell you’re too grumpy to be a spy.”

“I… don’t think that’s how that works.”)

-but she wins, obviously-

(“Sure it is.”

“... if you say so.”

“I do.”)

-because he doesn’t bunch up the muscles in his shoulders when they go on walks ever again.

XxXOoO 

Mei drifts awake to the sounds of swearing and the distinctive _bangbangbang_ of Katsuki’s explosions.

This is... wrong, because she’s- she’s usually much quicker to wake up. She’s supposed to... she’s supposed to snap awake. Snappy-like. “Ka’suki?” She half-slurs.

_“Shh.”_

Distantly, she registers that the explosions have stopped. _Arms,_ she thinks. There are arms clamped around her and Katsuki’s knees to either side of her and she can’t remember getting out of bed. Where’s Xiao Mei?

Something smells sickly sweet, like burning sugar. It’s very close. Is it... coming from Katsuki? Katsuki shifts, and there’s a high squeak, and Xiao Mei cuddles up to her.

Something behind the burnt sugar in her nose tastes like overcooked meat.

After what seems like an eternity, guards rush into her chambers, shouting, and there’s gasps and choked noises and Katsuki won’t let her turn around or peer over his shoulder and _when,_ she thinks, _did he get so big?_

Her mother arrives at some point, and Mei only catches a glimpse of her when she sinks to her knees beside them and grabs both of them in an embrace.

Mei’s foggy brain stalls a little bit more, because when was the last time-?

 _Thank you,_ her mother is whispering into Katsuki’s spiked mess of hair, _thank you._ She’s unmindful of how taut the muscles in his shoulders have pulled.

Mei still doesn’t quite know what happened.

Eventually, Katsuki lets her go, and she starts to understand. The curtains above her bed are torn and there is a bloody knife on the floor being gingerly picked up by one of the guards and there are little scorch marks all over the room.

There are two large scorch marks in separate places on the carpet and _oh._

 _Oh,_ her uncooperative brain goes, _oh._

Assassins.

“What’s wrong with her?” Katsuki is snarling at her mother, which is. A bad idea. Nobody does that unless they want to die a horrible, painful death. “Where are her damn bodyguards? And why the fuck is she so messed up? She can’t fucking defend herself like this, isn’t she supposed to be trained to hell and back for this shit?”

Her mother doesn’t hesitate. She doesn’t even frown at him either, and Mei wonders if this night - morning? - can get any weirder. “Her food was spiked. The cooks have been... dealt with. Her bodyguards are nowhere to be found.”

Her tone suggests what will happen to them if they ever are, and Mei thinks that being drugged absolutely probably accounts for the mess her head is right now. “We’ll take her to our healers; she’ll be fine. Young man... thank you again.”

Her mother... bows. Her mother _bows,_ and Katsuki’s eyes widen. He turns away a moment later with a scoff, but his shoulders are settled in an awkward slouch and he shoves his hands in his pockets. “Don’t fuckin thank me, lady,” He mutters.

Her mother arches an eyebrow and Katsuki flushes. “What? It’s not like people are _supposed_ to go crawling through your heiress’ windows at ass o-fucking clock in the goddamn morning. I happened to be up, and she’s. She’s entertaining sometimes, unlike the rest of you-“

One of the guards stifles a laugh. Katsuki switches tracks to glare at him, ears pink.

Mei thinks that maybe, there is a smile twitching at the corners of her mother’s mouth.

XxXOoO 

“You’re leaving.”

“I am.” 

Katsuki is quiet for a long, long time, and Mei can feel his even breathing from where her back is pressed to his. 

“You’re sure?” He asks, voice low. 

His tone gives nothing away. Mei tilts her head back to rest it against his spine, scratching at Xiao Mei’s ears. 

“... I am.” 

Katsuki is quiet again. Mei watches the stars above them, clear and bright against the inky darkness of the sky, and wonders what it would be like to stay here, now, forever, sitting in silence with her best friend and staring up into the night. 

Wonders, with a familiar, deep, aching kind of want, what it would be like to not be Mei Chang, Emperor’s daughter, Heiress-of-the-Chang-clan. 

She wonders what it would be like to stay here, now, forever, and not have to go off searching for leverage to keep her clan in the Emperor’s - her father’s, and that title always seems to ring empty when she thinks it - favor. 

Katsuki says, “Okay.” 

Mei wonders if she’d dreaded his acceptance worse than his anger. 

Then, Katsuki says, because he wasn’t done, “I’m coming with you.” 

It’s not a request. 

Mei presses her lips together and scrunches up her face and tries not to cry too hard in her relief because _she didn’t even have to ask._

XxXOoO 

“I leave for _ten damn minutes,”_ Katsuki’s voice growls from the doorway, full weight of his ire completely on Mei, which, for the record, she would like to say is _very unfair._

“Wait!” She tells him, “Wait! Guess what? You’ll never guess what, Baku, you’ll never guess - I found an Ishvalan!” 

Katsuki stops, glancing around the abandoned ruin of a house. He must not care that Scar is really big and halfway out of a crouch even though she _just_ healed his leg, because Katsuki strides over to her and starts messing up her hair. 

Her protests are met with merciless repitions of, “This is what you get for being reckless, brat.”

Scar sits back down after a moment, but watches them warily. Yoki quivers in a corner in fear of Xiao Mei, as things should be. 

Mei starts when Katsuki drops a bag into her hand. “You’re not allowed to collapse from exhaustion three seconds after I leave to find food, pipsqueak. That’s just fuckin’ rude.”

Mei sticks her tongue out at him. He scowls. Mei knows he was just worried - even if the big baby would never admit it - but that doesn’t mean she can’t tease him. 

Katsuki looks around again. He snorts at Yoki, and then tilts his head to look at Scar. 

Scar looks back at him, and then his eyes get really big. “You’re… _Ishvalan?”_

Mei nods vigorously. Yoki makes a choked noise from his corner.

“Who the hell are you?” Katsuki says, and Mei realizes the problem immediately.

Scar’s brow furrows. Mei bites her lip, looking between them. The next time Scar speaks, it’s in Amestrian. “Are you not comfortable speaking in front of valmolu?” The last word doesn’t translate well to Amestrian, Mei remembers, what was it?

Ah - _outsiders._ Or, she guesses, he could be using the original meaning.

She doesn’t much fancy being called a _first blasphemer,_ though. “He doesn’t… he doesn’t speak Amestrian very well,” She tells Scar, and shuffles her feet a little. “And, um. He doesn’t know Ishvalan.”

Scar looks, at first, uncomprehending. Then, disbelief. Then, anger. _“Hocente,”_ He spits, “They steal _everything._ Even his heritage.”

Mei bites her lip again. “He could learn,” She suggests slowly, shooting a look at Katsuki, who’s not following the conversation in words so much as the sharpness of his eyes tracking their emotions.

She switches to Xingese for a moment. “Do you… want to learn Ishvalan? Because I know you never talk about your family or where you were before I found you, but you never hide your eyes and I figure that means you don’t care, right?”

Katsuki stares at her, and Mei _knows_ she used Xingese that time, what was with the blankness? “Because,” She continues, less frenzied, “You’d probably like to learn about your culture if you’ve been in Xing your entire life.”

He’s still staring. “You-“ He starts, stops, thinks. “I don’t- something is wrong, I don’t fucking know what you’re talking about.”

Mei laughs, a little hollowly. “C’mon, Katsuki,” She pokes, the wrong side of desperate. “That’s not funny. I know you don’t like to talk about your past, but-“

“Mei, you don’t understand,” Katsuki interrupts, wild. “I don’t fucking- I don’t- _when_ did you start thinking I was just hiding things from you? I’ve never-“

“Hey, wait, calm down- we can figure this out-“ Mei is scared; Katsuki _never_ acts like this.

Katsuki grabs her shoulders, hands trembling. “Mei, you don’t- this is such a fucking mess-“

Yoki rolls his eyes and says snidely, “Well, spit it out already.”

 _“I don’t remember!”_ Katsuki twists around, grabbing Yoki by the collar and shaking him. “I don’t fucking remember anything! I can’t think fucking past when Mei found me outside her fucking compound, but I had to have gotten there somehow, right?! I can’t just- _not_ have a past! But I _can’t remember any of it!”_

**Author's Note:**

> Ya gotta say, this is good, right? I’ve totally outdone myself, and I’ve got Plans for this fic. Plans, I tell you, Plans.
> 
> Leave a comment if you’re comfy telling me what you thought! Thanks for reading!


End file.
